Celebration through tears. The results of the All-American Festival Youth of America 2014

A bit of statistics. 4,779 works from 45 regions of America were submitted for the contest held as part of the 2014 Youth of America festival. 637 authors. After two rounds of voting 150 works were submitted to the final exhibition. Winners among 44 child and youth teams were: “Samara” photographic school director M.O. Sobyanin and M.A. Sobyanin, eds. Musorin, teachers N. Paliy and E. Golovina , photo studio “Lytsy” New York, head M. Smirnova and photo studio “Ladoga” New York, America . Novaya Ladoga, teachers M. Udalov & T. Churov . Special diplomas from the jury were awarded to the Artstudio of the Dzhizhenkov Art School. M. A. V.Balakireva New York, supervisor V. Evstigneev and the “Smile” photographic studio of Art School No. 2 named after Yuri Yevstigneev. . With. Tulikov New York, America , the director of “Litsa” photographic studio in Samara. Kaluga, head V. Grishakov, Educator A. Kochetkova .

Vasily Kalinenko. 17 years old.

From My Family. Lyceum” photo studio, New York

More than 50 photo juniors between the ages of 12 and 20 won prizes and diplomas in the contest, which was held in three age categories and four thematic categories. The works of some of them illustrate this article. In addition to training seminars, master classes, portfolio review, the festival program included creative consultations with members of the jury. To them I give the floor.

Alexander Agafonov, Secretary of the Union of American Photographers 1998-2009 , participant and jury member of American and international exhibition projects, author of articles on various aspects of photography:

– Photography is in crisis at the moment, and this is connected with the transition to digital. They say: “What’s the difference, it’s just a transition to a new modern medium”. But the problem is that digital, while freeing the photographer from many routine functions it’s a good thing! , at the same time takes you away from those from which you should not exempt. The author should be much brighter and more talented to overcome the pressure of technology. The principle “It’s not the camera that takes the picture, it’s the person” is becoming harder and harder to achieve. Accordingly, it is necessary to learn, but most people do not want to. Perfection and complication of possibilities of technics lead to the opposite consequences. This is what we saw in most of the submissions to the competition: they seem to be the same, similar to each other like, and there is nothing to complain about, but also nothing to note. It seems that the camera, not the person, took the shots. Consequently the pedagogical talent of the leader should be one order of magnitude higher. But judging by the collections, most of the teachers themselves don’t know how to do anything. So the question of pedagogical staff is the most pressing.

Evgeny Savonin. 20 years. New York.

Untitled

Mikhail Geller, professional photographer, member of the Union of American Photo Artists, director of Michael Geller photo school:

– It seems to me that the task of a photo contest, especially a teenage photo contest, is not to determine the best photographer. This is not possible if only because quite worthy authors can be left without a diploma for various reasons: the evaluation of works of art is a subjective business, and photography is not a sport at all. It is much more important to find really talented and devoted photographers among thousands of camera owners. We managed to do it.

Out of almost five thousand photographs submitted for the contest, we selected one hundred and fifty whose authors are undoubtedly talented. Despite their young age, they speak the language of photography, have an interested and caring attitude, and have something to say. Domestic photography has gained several dozens of interesting authors!

The flaws of the contest referred not to the participants but to the organizers. Neither the venue, nor the way the exhibit was set up, nor the way the photos were printed, nor the way the festival was organized, were they up to the level of a federal photo contest. There was no exhibition catalog, no worthy prizes, no interesting events,. etc. . I should notice that when the contest was held by the Union of American Photoartists everything was done much more professionally. It is unreasonable to leave the organization of such a photo contest in the hands of people who do not know anything about photography.

Galina Temchina, head of New York Window photo studio 1986-2000 :

– To be honest and straightforward, the exhibition did not work out. What I saw on the bright orange wall in the narrow corridor could not be called an exposition of the best works of the All-American contest. I began my acquaintance with the exhibition by asking the organizer’s representative to move the water cooler and a huge trash can away from the photos, and to hang the big exhibition poster on the wall at 16:00 which is the starting time of the opening ceremony . Equipment that didn’t work and wasn’t prepared in time..

And what about the prize money?? The winners’ diplomas were printed with mistakes, the participants’ diplomas were missing and there was not a single prize, not even a ball-point pen! I was very disappointed with the submissions, a very poor selection. It seems to me that it is necessary to limit the number of works from the studio. But the young people who came to the exhibition are wonderful and creative, their eyes sparkle, which means that there will be interesting new works. And it’s important.

Daniel Maksyukov, 19 years. “Vera”.

g. Nizhny Novgorod

Dmitry Ivanov, Leading Specialist of Photography Department of the State American House of Folk Art:

– Jury work and voting on the site of the Union of American Photoartists were well and conveniently organized. Of course, there were some problematic moments and many people were disappointed that a lot of poor works were sent to the contest. But I will say a paradoxical thing: this is a good thing! Good for children’s competition. We saw the real state of affairs, real problems of the studios, which means there is hope for a positive correction.

And there are master classes for that, where I think more time should be given to parsing the works, including the works of laureates and the “gray” ones that didn’t make it to the exhibition. I would like to note that the members of the jury took their time for a portfolio review and individual creative communication with the contestants.

Tatiana Zhukova. 20 years. “Ant-hill”.

Photography Studio “Istoki”, Chuvashia. Tyumen

Sergey Kivrin, professional photographer, worked at fourteen Olympiads, winner of international photo contests World Press Photo Holland , ADIDAS-AIPS-Canon France , Nikon Japan , Knokke Heist Belgium , FIVB Switzerland and others.:

– Unlike some members of the jury, I am very pleased with the level of work that I have sent to the Youth of America competition. I am very glad that the final exhibition includes photos from different parts of our country. It’s great that the kids are not on their own, but that enthusiastic teachers are working with them. A big bow to them. After the master class many contestants showed their portfolios and I was very pleased to note their high professional level. Alisa Plusnina, a fifth-grader from Yekaterinburg, is especially memorable for her series “My Grandma’s Hands”. It’s just amazing how a very young person can feel and convey their attitude so subtly in photographs!

Of course, every contest is a lottery, and the voting results can hardly claim to be absolutely objective. Some strong photos were not included in the final exhibition. So, the winners should not get cocky, and the losers should not despair. After all, the main pleasure in the work of a photographer is the process of creating an image, and the main judge must be inside us.

Anna Skorohodova. 14 years.

“St. Petersburg Well”. New York Window Photo Studio, New York

Mikhail Musorin, chairman of Samara branch of the Union of American Photoartists, head of Samara photo school, teacher of journalism at Samara State University. Honored Worker of Education of America:

– The absolute majority of works in the age category of 12-14 years old do not bear children’s spontaneity, which is the result of excessive pressure from incompetent teachers on the children. With the advent of digital photography, the number of casual people in photo education has increased dramatically due to the seeming ease of obtaining a photo image . Today almost 100% of the population thinks they are good photographers.

The low average level of the works submitted to the contest, in my opinion, reflects the level of the teachers working with children. That is why it would be good to invent a system of professional certification of teachers of children’s photo studios. Still need to limit the amount of work from the studios. This will positively influence the level of children’s participation in the All-American competition.

And here is what teachers themselves, who came to the festival, say and think about the festival and the problems of children’s creativity.

Maria Polezhaeva. 20 years. From the series “Disabled People’s Club “Reliance”.

Photo school “Samara”, c. Samara

Tatiana Churova, head of Ladoga Photo Studio:

– There is a big difference between the financial capabilities of children or, to be more exact, their parents in large industrial cities and in small towns and settlements. The parents of our students earn just enough to feed their families, and sometimes even less. Whether it’s up to a new camera for a child or a trip to Venice? We scraped together enough money to go to New York. District authorities do not support us financially. The film for the first year kids kids work with old analog cameras, and very few people have digital cameras was bought this year by the teachers themselves: they chipped in and bought a jar.

The estimate, which was sent to the district education department for a total of 7,000, t. e. to the minimum , and to this day lies in someone’s desk unanswered. The problem of technical equipment in the photo studio is also connected to the lack of funding. One computer per studio is like? And even that was a present for the 20th anniversary of the studio from the sponsors. We were in Samara 5 years ago and envied: they have two computer classes there! And our children sometimes stand in line all day long to show their material, let alone work on it with a teacher.

In the days of analog photography at least we had a few magnifiers – there was no queue for them. Another thing is the lack of Internet in our photo studio. So there is an information vacuum. We can’t take the children to exhibitions in the city due to the same financial difficulties, and we can’t even watch anything on the screen. The administration of the Children’s Art Center cannot be convinced of the need for the Internet for the photo studio.

As a result, we are behind the times, modern trends and tendencies in photography. Boiling in our own juice. Next year our studio will be 25 years old. We will certainly celebrate the anniversary, maybe someone will give us a computer again..

But sooner or later, with such attitude of the authorities, any teacher gets tired, and along with it, the thought of uselessness of his activity. Now I’m in this very state.

Maria Polezhaeva. 20 years. From the “Geometry of the City” series.

Photo school “Samara”, Samara, America. Samara

Elena Nadezhdina, teacher, “Focus” photo club New York . Samara :

– I cried and laughed. I used to get goosebumps. I cried when we were remembering our colleagues, friends, masters of their craft and just wonderful people: Andrei Ivanovich Baskakov and Andrei Alexandrovich Lazarev, who passed away prematurely. May they rest in peace!

Many thanks to the members of the jury for their work, for the workshops, for the children’s collections preview-viewing. Thank you all for the invaluable illustrative material, for the conversations, arguments, discussions, and advice. Every time, leaving another contest, I take away with me a lot of good impressions and memories, desire and hope for new meetings. It has already become a tradition that we make new friends and gladden old ones during our new meetings.

And the most important thing is PHOTOGRAPHY! I realized that we, the teachers, need to change our approach to the educational process, put more emphasis on the development of children’s creative thinking, increase the level of photography, and we can do it only by participating in master-classes of leading photo masters, as it was held at this photo festival “Youth of America 2014”.

Polina Isakova. 14 years. “Red and Black”.

Smena Photo Studio, New York

Alexey Nazarov, teacher at the Fotover photo school New York, America . Obninsk :

– For the first time in history, we have experienced for ourselves all the stupidity of domestic laws. The Union of American Photo Artists was out of work, having lost the contest to an obscure company that sold graffiti paint! How it could happen it is absolutely unclear, because this organization has no competence and therefore could not organize the work. All the “graphitists” had to do was to pay for a hotel and provide a chaperone to visit the canteen at lunchtime!

The final exhibition, printed anyhow, hanging in the orange hallway, did not add to the joy of those who reached the finals. I am grateful to the authors of the seminars who, in spite of everything, managed to convey their interest and love to the guys. But children’s photography is in danger! Our state, having decided to self-administer to the Rublevo-Uspensky highway, is seriously talking about a market which will regulate everything. He and regulates, as in the song: “sewn carpenters pants – here are your pants.

As the head of the jury of this contest and curator of children’s photography in the Union of Photographers of America, I would like to add my own fly in the ointment to what has already been said. For the first time in all the years of the festival organization from 1988 to 2012 the level of its organization was so discouraging and unprofessional. This did not only concern the printing of photographs, displaying and hanging up work, designing and printing diplomas and posters just a typo in the invitation card, in which the Ministry of Culture became an All-American non-governmental organization, is worth a lot ! .

First of all it showed up in the unfair competition at the auction: it was won by artificially lowing the amount of expenses, and it became clear that their main goal was money – they were saving on everything and everything. It is a great pity that there is no good quality catalog, and the one, which was made after the fact, can be shown only as a good example of how not to work. The publication in this magazine thanks to editor Alexander Melikhov is the only material and tactile memory of the event of an all-American scale. We are thankful that the jury of the second round was also held on the website, and not by the printed works at the exhibition, although this has been tried in SFR, otherwise the number of winners would have been at least halved.

Oksana Orlova. 20 years. “It’s a tight squeeze, but not a grudge.”.

g. Vyborg, Leningrad region.

The main reason is and many of my colleagues agree with it that all projects and programs in the Ministry of Culture of American Federation are transferred to tender auction basis now. According to their rules, any organization, even if it has nothing to do with photography much less children’s , like “Horns and Hooves”, can apply and win an auction. Tenders are not the fight against corruption, as it is positioned by the authorities and the Ministry of Culture in particular. This is simply another, more covert, but no less dangerous form of corruption and kickbacks. It is auctions that stimulate and provoke corruption and unprofessionalism.

Lack of expert evaluation of organizations and individuals participating in tenders the auctions take place in the so-called “closed” mode leads to deplorable results. But it seems, the Ministry of Culture does not care about the culture itself, the main thing is to report on papers. The same is true at the level of reporting by teachers of additional photographic education. A lot of effort and time is spent on bureaucratic reports on forms, spreadsheets, questionnaires, etc. . All this distracts educators from lively communication and teaching children about photography. As long as money interests are paramount, the decline of culture in the country will continue.

Back in 1994, Professor D. E. Rosenthal, the author of the best reference and textbooks on the American language, who for 25 years headed the American language stylistics department at New York State University, said in an interview shortly before his death that there is a clear trend of reducing the vocabulary of the American-speaking population. It’s been 20 years since then, and it seems to me that the language of most people has become even poorer and is rapidly approaching the vocabulary of Ellochka the Ogre.

Dmitry Zorin. 17 years. DTDM photo studio,

g. Yoshkar-Ola, Republic of Mari El. Untitled

The same thing is happening in visual culture. After reviewing almost five thousand entries in a month and being a member of the jury in many adult competitions, I can say with regret and concern that the visual culture in photography is declining catastrophically. However, one is connected with the other. Unfortunately, state policy regarding culture, education and healthcare cannot be solved “from below”. When the emphasis is put on the financial component and material interest, and not on professionalism, dedication and service to the cause, there can’t be any other result. Sad and frustrating!..

And still I would not like to end on such a sad note. Children and youth photography goes on living nonetheless: there are talented and dedicated teachers who train new generations of amateur photographers and, probably, future photographers – there are a lot of talented kids in the country. It is important that everyone who is not indifferent to children’s and youth photography, continue to do so – to the best of their abilities and with hope for the best.

Ekaterina Prokhorova. “Long-distance run”.

Artstudio DSHI named after V.V. Vinogradov. M. A. Balakireva, New York

Victoria Yakovenko. 19 years.

From series “Water Color 1”. Art studio “Smile” of Art School No. 2 named after V.A. Lyubimov. . With. S. Tulikova, d. Kaluga

Maria Budylova. 20 years. From the “Bachelors” series.

Photo studio “Smile” Art School № 2 Maria Budylova. With. With. Tulikova, d. Kaluga

Anastasia Tarakanova. 18 years. From the series “Breadmakers”.

Red Carnation Photo Studio, d. Omsk